God, what are Your plans for this year?

A different look at goals for the coming year

It’s a New Year and people start talking about goal setting. We hear, “What are your new year’s resolutions?”

I think a better approach might be to ask God what are His plans for this year.

Listen to Jeremiah 29:11–12 in The Message

“This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out — plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

“When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen.””

Two things that I noted:

First: God knows what He is doing

Second: God has it planned out.

But the part that really arrested me was:

When you call on me and when you come and pray to me — I’ll listen.

Oh — Is that it? We need to ask, and listen. That’s very important.

Each of the past 4 years I have been asking God to show me a Word and a scripture to help me focus on what He wants for the year.

In the past years I have had words such as Intentional, Abound, and Finish.

This year my word or word phrase is Go Forth.

I have been working hard at streamlining my thinking and focusing on the one thing that God wants me to do.

Around 2005 I attended a retreat called a Holy Spirit Weekend. During that time we had many chances to sit by ourselves and reflect on scripture, poems and God. One time when we returned to the session, each woman had a scripture on her chair. I turned mine over and it was from John 21:15

It said, “If you love me, feed my lambs,”

At that point I had no idea what it meant. I was not writing for others. I journaled for me with God.

But in 2008 I started my first blog.

Each morning I would read scripture and once a week I would write a post of my thoughts. I wrote a few devotionals that were published in The Upper Room Devotional Guide.

Over the years, I have studied, and read. And studied and read some more.

But this year, I started to study scripture in a new way.

I wanted to hear God speak. So each time I studied a scripture I would write a prayer and then spend time — yes time, just sitting and waiting.

Today I read a scripture that talked to me again — It explained why we wait.

Psalm 130:5–6 in The Message

I pray to God — my life a prayer —
and wait for what he’ll say and do.
My life’s on the line before God, my Lord,
waiting and watching till morning,
waiting and watching till morning.

We are in the “in between state”. The state between God of the supernatural and me here in this world.

As I sit waiting I try to let all extraneous thoughts and ideas leave my mind. I focus on God and what He will tell me. I always have a pen handy because suddenly I hear these words in my mind. I jot them down. They sound powerful. Sometimes I write them in capitals.

That’s how God has been speaking to me lately. And the conversation is going deeper.

I breathe in His Words.

Sometimes I ask more questions. I’m still questioning Him about what scripture should I focus on. At the moment I am sticking with 2 Corinthians 3:17.

From my Bible Journaling

This year I can tell is going to be a year of discovery. A year of focus. A year of serving. A year of Going Forth.

I hear God telling me that my focus is Christian writers.

I am to feed them what God is telling me. God wants all Christians to be in the Word — but my voice will be to Christian writers. They need to be in the Word to stay strong, to fight Satan, and be inspired to spread the Good News.

Please pray for Christian writers. Put it on your prayer calendar, or put it in your prayer box.

If we are going to share this Gospel we need our writers to be full of the Spirit.

May I pray for you and me?

Lord Jesus, thank You for dying for us — for taking our sins upon Yourself so we can go in between the two worlds — of supernatural and here on earth. Please inspire Christian writers. Help us to spread the Good News. Help us to show Who You are. Help us to be closer to You. In Your Name. Amen.